


That Night

by captainkippen



Category: Ackley Bridge (TV)
Genre: Based off THAT SCENE in S2E10, Boys discovering their feelings, Fluff, I am just using ficlets as a means of procrastination on other WIPs now, Kissing, M/M, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 14:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15642378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkippen/pseuds/captainkippen
Summary: Naveed never thought Cory would return his feelings.





	That Night

Cory’s bedroom was everything, but at the same time nothing, like Naveed had expected. It had the typical messiness you would think a teenager boy’s room would bare, with its floor covered in discarded pieces of clothing, the bed half-made with the mattress cover slowly riding up, and the half empty glasses scattered on various surfaces, but it also had an edge of softness to it that took him by surprise. The walls were decorated with accidentally-torn posters, candid pictures of Cory and his friends laughing, the drawing that Jordan had done a few weeks ago right before the rugby match. Naveed knew Cory better than most people, but he was still surprised by him sometimes. He watched as Cory dug through a pile of what he hoped were clean clothes and came back up looking triumphant clutching a set of pyjamas. He threw them at Naveed with an order to go shower.

“You smell like Sourz, it’s grim.”

Naveed laughed, but did as he was told. As he stood under the steady stream of warm water he let his mind wonder to Cory’s words, earlier in the alley - “You have me.” He couldn’t believe he’d booked a comedy gig for him. He couldn’t believe Cory cared that much. Cory had been right, at least Naveed had him. At least Naveed knew he would always have him, through thick or thin… at least he hoped.

When he was mostly dry and dressed Naveed edged back into the room. He was about to say something, but the words flew out of his mind and he almost swallowed his own tongue when he looked up to see Cory lounging on the bed. He was in gym shorts, only gym shorts, and there was a lot of skin on display. He looked up at Naveed with a lazy smile. Naveed’s mouth went dry. He had to hastily hide behind the towel resting around his neck and wipe away imaginary droplets of water from his face in order to cover his reaction.

Cory gestured to the empty space beside him. “Come sit down if you want.”

  
Oh, Naveed did want. He wanted very much. He wanted too much and that was entirely the problem. He tried to look anywhere that wasn’t Cory’s abs, but his eyes kept flicking back there unhelpfully.

“Nah, I’m gonna,” He shook his head and pointed at the door, but Cory was adamant and he didn’t have a chance to leave.

“Come on man, just have a little chat and that…”

Naveed walked over slowly and begrudgingly sat down next to him. He took the time to admire the photographs on the wall facing away from Cory. He didn’t think he could bare to look at him with that much skin on display so close to him and only the two of them alone in a small room together. It was like everything he wanted being offered up on a silver platter, but obviously he couldn’t take it. The universe was laughing at him.

After a few moments of slightly awkward silence, Cory spoke up.

“Yknow, I’ve never had a mate like you”

Naveed huffed. “What? Who tried to snog ya?”

They hadn’t properly talked about the kiss yet. There was the brief conversation just before the school production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream opened, where they’d patched things up and gone back to acting as normal as possible, but it hadn’t been detailed and they’d been dancing around the topic for a few weeks.

Cory snorted. “Yeah, I was gonna say that makes me laugh, but yeah… that as well.”

Naveed laughed, the awkward tension finally broken, and looked at Cory with a grin. The ease only lasted for a second though, before Naveed was looking away again and bracing himself to say what he’d been meaning to since they’d made up.

“You being my friend,” He forced himself to look Cory in the eye. “It means a lot to me.”

Cory looked away with a smile.

“Me too,” He said.

There was another brief pause of awkwardness in which Cory fiddled with the drawstring on his shorts. They were both thinking about the kiss still. Naveed screamed internally before opening his mouth.

“I’m sorry about…” Naveed took a deep breath. “That.”

“Y’know I uh- I went a bit too far- I shouldn’t’ve,” He shook his head to himself. This was harder than he thought it would be. That was when Cory surprised him yet again.

“You didn’t,” He said softly. “It made me feel like somebody actually cared-”

Oh no. Oh dear. He wanted to talk about _feelings_. Cory Wilson, rugby lad and known playboy, wanted to talk about real life grown up feelings. Naveed could feel the hysteria bubbling up inside of him. He was caught between wanting to grab Cory by the shoulders and kiss him again and wanting to run away before he could fuck things up by kissing him again. It only got worse as Cory continued to speak - Naveed could feel his lips twitching.

“-like someone really cared, and-”

Naveed could feel himself breaking. He couldn’t help it, laughter was his go-to response to panic apparently. That made sense. Humour had always been his way of coping. He couldn’t even look at Cory, and he had to lift the edge of the towel to hide his face so Cory wouldn’t see him begin to snigger, but it was too late.

“Are you laughing?” Cory asked, absolutely incredulous.

“No,” Naveed said, sniggering.

“Why are you laughing?” Cory demanded. His outrage only made it worse. Naveed’s ribs actually hurt from holding it in.

“Nav, man! C’mon! I’ve just sat here and poured my heart out to you and you’re throwing it back in my face!”

Naveed couldn’t take it. The whole situation was too ridiculous. He was sat with Cory Wilson on his bed, just the two of them, aforementioned Cory Wilson being half naked and talking about his feelings of all things. It was too much. He had to leave before he did something stupid.

“Oh, I’m going to bed,” He said, pushing himself up still giggling.

“No, you’re not!” Cory protested, also getting up. “No, you’re apologising. Apologise now!”

He blocked Naveed’s path, and the look on his face only managed to make Naveed laugh harder.

“For what?” Naveed asked.

“For that!” Cory tugged the towel off Naveed’s shoulders.

The laughter inside him dissipated. Oh, God. For some reason Cory’s indignance just made him look more attractive than usual. He really was testing Naveed’s self-control.

“That was a moment, then!”

“What? No. Mate, I’m going,” Naveed shook his head with a grin and tried to push past.

“No, you’re not!” And that is when Cory ducked down, got his arms around Naveed’s waist, and full on just rugby tackled him into the bed.

They scuffled for a couple of minutes, giggling like children as Naveed tried to push him off. He failed miserably, Cory was much heavier than him and utterly determined to get him to stay, plus Naveed could barely breathe through his own laughter which didn’t help matters at all.

And then Cory pulled back slightly, and they were both breathless with laughter and staring into each other’s eyes and the atmosphere in the room changed in a snap. The tension in the air was so palpable it could’ve been cut with a knife. Really, Naveed cannot be faulted for what happened next. In fact, he’s not even sure it was him that initiated what happened next. What are you supposed to do when the boy you’re in love with is lying on top of you, shirtless, in his bed? Exactly. So it was no surprise that a moment later Cory’s lips were on his, and Naveed was groaning into a deep kiss. Everything that was wrong with the day simply faded into the background. It felt right, this felt right.

_***_

Cory woke up the next morning to light streaming through the gaps in his curtains. It took him a minute to figure out why he was so warm - Naveed’s skin was like a radiator in the small bed and he was tucked snugly under Cory’s arm fast asleep. A mixture of feelings rushed through him. Last night had been… well, there was no other word but amazing to describe it. When Cory was with Naveed everything always felt like it was just clicking into place, like he wasn’t alone and didn’t ever have to be. Gently, he traced a finger along the slope of Naveed’s shoulders.

Cory had known for a long time that he probably wasn’t completely straight. He knew some people liked both boys and girls, or at least he thought they did? He knew definitely liked girls and well… clearly he liked boys too, but how was that meant to work? How was he meant to act? What would he tell the lads at school? People at school already talked shit about who he slept with, he had a reputation - no one seemed to believe he actually had real feelings. Not only that but what would his dad say? The idea of him knowing, of anyone knowing, flooded him with terror. His mind went back to what Naveed had said the day before in the alley, about feeling safe behind the 'lies' and not knowing what to do. At the time Cory hadn’t known what to say, but now he thought maybe he should’ve told Naveed that he understood. The problem was that no matter how hard he tried, and he really did try, Cory struggled to voice his feelings in a way that made sense. Especially when it came to his best friend.

He had never felt like this with _anybody_ before, he hadn’t even known he could feel like this, which made it all the more confusing. Naveed was his best friend in the whole world, the only person he truly felt he could say anything to. The way he made him feel was almost frightening it was so intense. It seemed almost stupid to risk that kind of friendship for… well, for sex. But he’d wanted it so much last night. The image of Naveed lying in his bed, staring up at him, was clear in his mind as it had been as it was happening. He remembers the impulse to lean down and kiss him, the perfect way that it felt when Naveed kissed him back. It was more than just feeling like somebody cared about him or wanted him, it felt like he was something else entirely because of it. It was overwhelming.

He made a promise to himself to think about it, to figure things out, but for that moment with Naveed sleeping soundlessly next to him he decided it would be okay to leave that thinking until later.

It’s hard, you know, being in love with your best friend.


End file.
